Bitcoin has taken a giant step toward credibility after Bloomberg added prices for the crypto-currency to its data terminals.

The move means that financial traders can monitor movements in bitcoin alongside other commodities, such as gold, oil and hard currencies including sterling.

Bloomberg is the largest supplier of terminals that provide instant information to traders and financial services staff for $20,000 a year. The US company said that it had decided to include bitcoin prices on its screens after receiving hundreds of requests from some of its 320,000 subscribers.